Low-cost housing

ABSTRACT

Three-module, prefabricated or mobile homes are described in combination with a unique angular placement of the homes in a mobile home park which provides maximum privacy and enjoyment of the home site. The homes comprise a utility core module which is assembled to two additional modules on the lot. The substantially greater width of the assembled home permits use of shorter modules than the conventional two-module mobile homes without sacrifice of floor space. The shorter units permit faster and simpler positioning on the home site. Preferably, the units are placed at an angular orientation to the lot lines so that four triangular areas are thereby defined in the corners of the lot which provide increased off-street parking, greater privacy and more useful outdoor recreational areas than possible with conventional two-module homes which are positioned on their lots parallel to the lot lines.

United States Patent Renauld et al.

[ 5] Feb. 8, 1972 [54] LOW-COST HOUSING [22 Filed: Feb. 4, 1970 [21]Appl.No.: 8,466

[52] U.S.Cl ..52/169, 52/79, 52/67 [51] Int. Cl [58] Field of Search..52/67, 79,169, 234, 237

OTHER PUBLICATIONS The Magazine of Building, 5-1951 pp. l32, 133,52/234; Architectural Record, NA lA66 Sept. 1938, pp. 98, 99

52/169; Popular Mechanics, 1950, pp. 80, 81 52/67 Primary ExaminerAlfredC. Perham Attorney-Robert E. Strauss [5 7] ABSTRACT Three-module,prefabricated or mobile homes are described in combination with a uniqueangular placement of the homes in a mobile home park which providesmaximum privacy and enjoyment of the home site. The homes comprise autility core module which is assembled to two additional modules on thelot. The substantially greater width of the assembled home permits useof shorter modules than the conventional twomodule mobile homes withoutsacrifice of floor space. The shorter units permit faster and simplerpositioning on the home site. Preferably, the units are placed at anangular orientation to the lot lines so that four triangular areas arethereby defined in the corners of the lot which provide increasedoffstreet parking, greater privacy and more useful outdoor recreationalareas than possible with conventional twomodule homes which arepositioned on their lots parallel to the lot lines. 1

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures mzmw rm- 8 m2 3540.037

SHEET 1 OF 2 FIGURE 1 INVENTOR.

FRED S. RENAULD BY NO MIE AULD T0 NE LOW-COST HOUSING DESCRIPTION OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to prefabricated housing and, inparticular, relates to improvements in the design and construction ofmobile homes and mobile home parks.

Mobile homes are finding increasing acceptance as low cost housingunits. Recent improvements have included expanding units as well as twomodule units which are assembled at the park site. These homes aregenerally up to 12 feet in width for single module units and up totwenty feet in width for double module units with lengths of from 50feet to about 70 feet. The module widths and lengths are limited to amaximum of about 12 feet and 70 feet, respectively, to permitroadability and the resultant homes are long and narrow, with width tolength ratios of from about 0.3 to about 0.5.

To achieve maximum density of the homes in a mobile park, it isnecessary to position the long, narrow homes at substantially parallelorientation to the lot lines.

The aforedescribed home construction and placement on park lots doesntachieve the most desirable features for the enjoyment of the home. Sincemost of the homes are positioned in side-by-side orientation with narrowside and rear yards, privacy is sacrificed and the narrow side and rearyards are usually too small to permit adequate off-street parking andoutdoor recreational use. Additionally, the relatively long and narrowhome limits the interior room arrangement and prevents imaginative andnew floor plans.

It is an object of this invention to provide a mobile home park whichpermits maximum privacy and enjoyment of the home site.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a threemodule homethat is particularly adapted for use with said mobile home park.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide an arrangementof such three-module homes on said home park which achieves maximum siteutilization.

Other and related objects will be apparent from the followingdescription of the invention.

The aforementioned objects of this invention are achieved by the homeand park combination which comprises a mobile home park subdivided intoa plurality of separate and generally rectangular lots in a gridlikearrangement and, on each of said lots, a mobile home constructed from atleast three modules having a width to length ratio from about 0.75 to1.5, preferably from about 0.8 to L2 and, most preferably about 0. l andpositioned on said lot at angular orientation of from about 30 to about60 to the boundary lines of the lot to define a triangular open area ineach corner of the lot suitable for recreational use and for off-streetparking. In a preferred embodiment, the rear and one side of the homesupports an overhead patio structure. In another preferred embodiment,substantially all the window areas of the homes are oriented towards thetriangular open areas on which plantings are established to interruptdirect views between the homes.

The invention will now be described with reference to the FIGS.,ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a section of a mobile home park with anillustration of a typical floor plan; and

FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative park arrangement.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a view of a portion of amobile home park having contiguous lots 10, 12, 14 and 16 on which areplaced mobile homes 11, 13, and 17. The homes are formed from threemodules which are identified on home 15 as units 18, 20 and 22. Theseunits are each about 10 to 12 feet in width, the maximum permitted forroadability and are from 24 to about 40 feet in length. Preferably, theunits are 12 feet wide by about 36 feet long. Unit 18, which is attachedto the central unit 20 is the front of the home and has an entranceporch 24 which is supported by unit 18. An optional feature comprises anextendible bay window 26 which can be retracted for transporting theunit.

The homes are placed on the lots at an angular orientation from about 30to 60 degrees to the boundary lines. e.g., street A and line 25. Thisplacement defines four triangular-shaped areas which are identified as28, 30, 32 and 34 in the upper left lot 10. The area 28 can be used foroff-street parking and can accommodate two cars on pavement 29 as shownor 'can accommodate three cars with a wider driveway as shown at 36, 38and 40 on lot 16. The large comer spaces provide ample area forplantings 42 which can have sufiicient height, e.g., from 5 to about 30feet to impart a high degree of privacy to the homes. This placement ofthe homes also permits installation of a continuous L-shaped patiostructure 44 which extends over the driveway and rear patio 41. Thedriveway extends along the side of the house and into the L-shaped patio41. The overhead shelter 44 thereby serves to protect the rear patio andalso serves as a carport. Since the service porch 83 is at the rearcorner of the house (see house 17 the structure 44 serves to provide aprotected access from the car into the house. The structure 44 can be anintegral extension of the roof of the house or can be separate structurewhich can be secured to brackets attached to the house. The entirestructure can also be enclosed, if desired, with screens, glass or otherprotective walling.

Referring now to the house on lot 16, the view shows a typical interiorarrangement. This interior comprises an entrance foyer 46, living room48 and dining room 50 with a buffet 52 and closet 54 within the firstmodule or unit. The second module is the utility unit with a kitchen 56,a service corridor 62 having a furnace 60, washer and drier 58 andcloset 64. The corridor opens into a bathroom 66 which has a shower 68.At the end of the bathroom is a small hall closet 67. The master bedroom70 has a separate bathroom 72. The third module attaches to the centralmodule to define a hallway 74 and the remaining end of bedroom 70. Adressing room with closet space is provided in communication withbedroom 70. An outside closet 76 is provided for storage of yard toolsand the remainder of the third module defines two additional rooms 80and 82 with a closet 84.

The centralization of the utilities also permits the construction of theunit that can isolate the noise and activities of the utility sectionfrom the remainder of the home. As shown, all the utility rooms, i.e.,the kitchen, baths and service corridor are provided with doors toisolate these rooms when necessary. In addition, the walls of theutility unit can be constructed with sound proofing design, e.g., soundinsulation and/or double walls to insure a minimum of sound conductance.The preferred use of a central utility core permits the installation ofall the plumbing in the interior walls and thereby affords a definiteadvantage against freezing in cold climates.

FIG. 2 illustrates a preferred park arrangement which insures maximumprivacy of the homes. In this arrangement, contiguous lots are staggeredin placement to provide a continuous succession of corner spaces thatwill support sufficiently large plants to provide a sense of separationnot attainable in the ordinary mobile homes parks. As illustrated, afirst row of lots 90, 91 and 92 face on the street opposite a second rowof lots 93, 94 and 95. The contiguous row of lots 96, 97, 98 and 99 areshown at staggered positions to lots 90-92. Three of the comer areas ofeach of these lots are shown with one or more large shrubs or smalltrees 42 while the fourth corner fronting on the street is available foroffstreet parking as described in regard to FIG. 1.

It can be seen from the illustration that the boundry line a-a' istherefore entirely screened by a succession of shrubs 42 located oncontiguous corners of the lots so that substantially all views betweenhomes on these lots are effectively blocked. This results in excellentseparation of the homes and maximum privacy to the occupants.

FIG. 2 illustrates another advantage of the three module homeconstruction. This appears in the illustration at the lower left of thefigure. In this view, a module is shown as it is being placed on lot 111by a truck or tractor 112. The placement can easily be made from astreet of a width from 18 to about 24 feet without need for the truck todrive over the curbs of the street. In contrast, placement of thelonger, single or dual module homes often requires wider streets. Thisis shown by the broken lines which define the space 113 that would beoccupied by a unit of about 70 feet in length, typical of the one or twomodule mobile homes. As shown, a street width of about 25 to-35 feetwould be required for this placement.

The lot sizes shown in the illustrations are about 58 by 62 feet with atotal area of 3,596 square feet. The size can be varied greatly,depending on the local zoning requirements. In general, the lot shapesare similar to that of the homes with width to depth ratios about 0.75to about 1.5. importantly, the homes can actually be placed with ahigher density, i.e., homes per acre, than possible with theconventional, long and narrow mobile homes of equivalent floor space.Since the homes can be placed on an angle in the park, the view from thewindows can be directed to private courtyards or gardens rather thandirectly into the neighboring homes as now encountered with theconventional homes.

While the preceding description is directed towards the preferred threemodule homes, it is understood that the modules are not necessarilyentirely detachable. To illustrate, the center module housing theutility core could telescope within one-of the outer modules, e.g., thefront module 18 could retract over the outside of the center module 20,after removal of closet 54 and the inset walls that define the entrancefoyer 46. The third module 22 could also telescope about units 18 and20, if desired; however, a more manageable assembly would result if thethird module were separately transported to the home site.

The utility core of the home could also be located in either of theouter modules rather than in the center module as shown in FIG. 1.Preferably, the utilities are all centralized in a single unit as shownso that assembly of the home on the home site is simplified. Thisconstruction also permits greater fiexibility in the construction of themodules, tag, the construction of the utility module could be performedat a plant equipped to specialize in kitchen and bath fixtures.

The preceding illustration of the invention is not intended to undulylimit the scope of the invention but. rather, it is intended that allequivalent means other than those specifically described herein arewithin the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of a plurality of prefabricated homes in a home parkwhich comprises a home park subdivided into a plurality of separate andgenerally rectangular lots having width to depth ratios from 0.75 to L5arranged in a gridlike division with street access to each of said lotsand a prefabricated home constructed from at least three modules andhaving a width to length ratio from about 0.8 to about 1.2 positioned oneach of a plurality of contiguous lots of said park at an angularorientation of from about 30 to 60 to the perimeter lines of said lot todefine triangular open areas in each lot, opposite each side of the homeon said lot and suitable for recreational purposes and off-streetparking with windows of each unit facing said triangular open areas.

2. The home park of claim 1 wherein said prefabricated homes are mobilehomes having a maximum width of about 12 feet to permit roadability.

3. The mobile home park of claim 2 wherein plants are established insaid open triangular areas to interrupt direct views between said mobilehomes.

4. The mobile home park of claim 2 wherein said lots are arranged withcontiguous lots in a staggered side-by-side alignment and saidtriangular open areas of the contiguous lots define a continuousplanting area for screening plants.

5. The mobile home park of claim 2 wherein at least one of thetriangular open areas fronting on the access street of one or more ofsaid lots is provided with a paved area to accommodate three cars inoff-street parking.

6. The mobile home park of claim 2 wherein the driveway of atleast oneof said lots extends along one side of the house on said lot and into anL-shaped patio with the other leg of said patio extending along anadjacent side of said house.

7. The mobile home park of claim 6 wherein said house has an L-shapedoverhead shelter extending along said one side and adjacent side to forma car port and contiguous patio structure.

1. The combination of a plurality of prefabricated homes in a home parkwhich comprises a home park subdivided into a plurality of separate andgenerally rectangular lots having width to depth ratios from 0.75 to 1.5arranged in a gridlike division with street access to each of said lotsand a prefabricated home constructed from at least three modules andhaving a width to length ratio from about 0.8 to about 1.2 positioned oneach of a plurality of contiguous lots of said park at an angularorientation of from about 30* to 60* to the perimeter lines of said lotto define triangular open areas in each lot, opposite each side of thehome on said lot and suitable for recreational purposes and off-streetparking with windows of each unit facing said triangular open areas. 2.The home park of claim 1 wherein said prefabricated homes are mobilehomes having a maximum width of about 12 feet to permit roadability. 3.The mobile home park of claim 2 wherein plants are established in saidopen triangular areas to interrupt direct views between said mobilehomes.
 4. The mobile home park of claim 2 wherein said lots are arrangedwith contiguous lots in a staggered side-by-side alignment and saidtriangular open areas of the contiguous lots define a continuousplanting area for screening plants.
 5. The mobile home park of claim 2wherein at least one of the triangular open areas fronting on the accessstreet of one or more of said lots is provided with a paved area toaccommodate three cars in off-street parking.
 6. The mobile home park ofclaim 2 wherein the driveway of at least one of said lots extends alongone side of the house on said lot and into an L-shaped patio with theother leg of said patio extending along an adjacent side of said house.7. The mobile home park of claim 6 wherein said house has an L-shapedoverhead shelter extending along said one side and adjacent side to forma car port and contiguous patio structure.